The three Philles albums by the Righteous Brothers are now available
on the newly developed Super High Material CD format, which can be played
on any CD player.

A major feature of the set is that the albums are in both stereo and
mono, so included are the alternate mono/stereo versions of "The
Angels Listened In" and "Summertime".

Admittedly they are a bit pricey because of the format and the cost
of postage from Japan plus there is some static noise from the master
tapes on a couple of the tracks on the "You've Lost That Lovin
Feelin" album but for any serious Righteous Brothers collector,
they simply are a 'must have' item for their collection.

Alternate issue of
the Greatest Hits album

At first glance this very rare 1981 Japanese vinyl album might appear
to be the very familiar Righteous Brothers classic "Greatest Hits" album,
originally issued in 1967 and reissued many times since then.

However, on this 1981 Japanese issue, the track listing has been changed
to include B sides of the Righteous Brothers Philles singles not originally
included on the Greatest Hits album, "There's A Woman" "The Blues" and
"She's Mine All Mine" plus two Bill Medley solos from the Philles "Back
To Back" album, "Without A Doubt" and "Loving You".

Even though the title has been extended to be the "Righteous Brothers
Greatest Hits BY PHIL SPECTOR", as the changes have been made using
the identical styling and original typeface, a casual viewing of the
album cover can result in it being overlooked.

The back cover utilizes the original layout of the Righteous Brothers
1969 "Greatest Hits Vol.2" album, including the two photos
of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield.

Track Listing;

You've Lost That Lovin Feelin
Just Once In My Life
Loving You
(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons
Hung On You
Ebb Tide

Unchained Melody
Without A Doubt
The Blues
White Cliffs Of Dover
She's Mine All Mine
There's A Woman

Unchained Melody single with no producer credit

Well worth seeking out is the original
issue of this classic single that has been the subject of many heated
debates over the years as to the identity of the producer of "Unchained
Melody".

Apart from not sounding in the remotest like a Phil Spector production,
the lack of any producer credits on the label would appear to imply
that Phil Spector did not produce "Unchained Melody". After all, as
Phil Spector was the sole owner of Philles Records it hardly seems feasible
that his name would be omitted by mistake.

Although DJ and initial releases of Philles 129 "Hung On You"
credited Phil Spector as the producer, the B side "Unchained Melody"
had no producer credits, this was also the case with the Bill Medley
produced tracks on the two previous Righteous Brothers Philles singles.

However, after "Unchained Melody" was switched to the A side
following DJ's playing it in preference to main side and it started
to climb the charts, Phil Spector's name appeared credited as producer
on the subsequent pressings of the single and all other releases of
the track ever since.

Another interesting factor is that there is no arranger credit which
had by then become standard practice on Spector produced tracks at this
point.

It is also worth noting that the producer credits on the album "Just
Once In My Life" are vague with no distinction between the tracks Phil
Spector and Bill Medley produced. On the other two Righteous Brothers/Philles
albums, "You've Lost That Lovin Feelin" and "Back To Back", the producer
credits are very clear.

Further evidence, if it were needed, has surfaced with the release of
the Phil Spector compilation "Retrospective". The liner notes
gives details of the session musicians, none of these included any of
the "wrecking crew" who worked with Spector but several familiar
names of members of the Righteous Brothers Band including Mike Patterson
Bill Baker Art Munson Woody Woodrich Drew Johnson and Barry Rillera.

Withdrawn UK Just Once In My Life single

In the UK the follow up to "You've Lost
That Lovin Feelin", "Just Once In My Life"/"The Blues", was released
in April 1965 on London American HL9962 and then rather abruptly withdrawn
by Decca. It was a controversial decision at the time, one of the reasons
given in the music press at the time was "technical reasons", which
could amount to anything.

It has been well documented that demonstration copies of the single
were released before the withdrawal. Since then several had been in
circulation, though very rare.

No regular copies of this release were thought to have existed but in
the past few years copies have surfaced.

In June 1966, just over a year after the initial release, "Just Once
In My Life"/"The Blues" was finally released by Decca on London American
HL10066. There are no differences between the recordings of either issue.

Some mis-informed record sellers are trying to sell the London American
HL10066 issue by claiming it is the withdrawn issue, something to be
aware of before buying or bidding on the item.